Sierra’s Haven is teaming with PetSmart Charities to donate stuffed animals to several area agencies.

“PetSmart Charities has all of these cats and dogs for children,” Brenda Kallner, of Sierra’s Haven, said. “And they wanted to find children in our area who needed these stuffed animals for Christmas. So we took Children Services, Catholic Social Services and the (Scioto County) Domestic Violence Shelter.”

“We thought that would be great for the kids, the children of our clients,” Tiffany Crabtree, a crisis intervention worker at the Scioto County Domestic Violence Shelter, said. “These babies come out of bad situations, so it’s nice to be able to give them a little bit of comfort, a little toy like that. We were really on board for it and appreciated them thinking of us. We’ll be excited to hand them out at Christmas time.”

When Dr. Gail Counts arrived, she began to hand out the stuffed animals much to the delight of the various agencies.

“We do it for the animals and the kids,” Counts said. “PetSmart Charities donated all these stuffed animals to us and rather than leave them here, we would rather give them to little kids that are less fortunate or have problems in their life or just need a little bit more support. We like to give them stuffed animals because it is like their first pet. And they can take care of it before they get a real pet.”